Christo, you are welcome to use/try my VX-7r in Moab. I'm not going and I doubt I'll be needing it. I might have Marco Clone it with his first as I think my original (Daves first set) programming has a couple glitches.

more than happy to, just need to figure out why mine won't grab Nakman's programming.. maybe it's something simple because I checked the clone cable and it is good per Yaesu.

Christo, I have an FT-60. Way more rugged than the VX line (mil spec for shock, dust, water) and it doesn't have all the whiz-bang gadgets like GPS, etc. The only thing I did was to buy a 17" long gain antenna for it.

If you buy an HT for trail use, I recommend that you buy a mag mount antenna for it. The extra gain will make your little radio perform like a champ. Also get the car charger cable. I'm not sure about the VX line, but the FT-60 cigarette cord charges the battery pack and simultaneously powers the radio. Another good tip is make sure you get a AA battery pack and not just the rechargeable pack. At CM maybe not an issue, but skiing or hiking in the back country it could mean the difference between being heard and not. AA packs almost always provide more transmit power than rechargeables for the same radio.

Oh man that 3 is pretty small. Is 3 watts enough for around camp use etc?

It is with a repeater up on the hill (sorry, I couldn't resist)

I have the VX7R like many others...I like it a lot and for now it is my HT and my mobile radio. I installed an external antenna on the LX that I plug into when in the truck. Reach wise its not going to compare to a 50w mobile rig and you will tend to hear a lot of conversation but find that you can't reach out far enough necessarily to talk to all the people you can hear. That said, driving to meetings there have been times that I've been able to talk to people north of I70 and Wadworth from the Chatfield Res area. Battery life wise...I used it for a full weekend during the Ghost Town: battery lasted the entire trip down, all day Saturday, and all day Sunday until about Bailey just when we were trying to coordinate dinner plans

Christo, you are welcome to use/try my VX-7r in Moab. I'm not going and I doubt I'll be needing it. I might have Marco Clone it with his first as I think my original (Daves first set) programming has a couple glitches.

Yeah but Marco is cloning from mine, which is a clone from Dave, so the same program.. like we're all passing the same cold around.